Jar unscrambler and inverter



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Dec. 22, 1953 c. E. DASCOMB JAR UNSCRAMBLER AND INVERTER Filed June 2,1950 Dec. 22, 1953 c. E. DASCOMB JAR UNSCRAMBLER AND INVERTER 5Sheets-Sheef 2 Filed June 2, 1950 I INVENTOR. (Zaur 1'7. fla smmb w M Rw Dec. 22, 195

3 c. E. DASCOMB JAR UNSCRAMBLER AND INVERTER Filed June 2, 1950 3Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR. (law r 7. fiaswmh HTI'ORNEY Patented Dec. 22,1953 JAE UNSCRAMBLER AND INVERTER Clair E. Dascomb, Westfield, N. Y.,assignor to The Welch Grape Juice Company, Inc., West field, N. Y., acorporation of New York Application June 2, 1950, Serial No. 165,695

3 Claims.

The present invention relates to a machine for and method of handlingjars or other articles preparatory to presenting them to a stationwhereat they are to be acted upon, and aims to provide certainimprovements therein.

In the high speed filling of bottles or jars with various foodstuffs,cosmetics and the like, the filling of more than 200 units per minute isoften desirable. At such high speeds, however, it is not possible forthe operators stationed at the bottle or jar unscrambler and at thefilling station to visually inspect the interior of the containers andremove those which contain foreign matter, such as broken glass,cardboard chips, fibers and the like. Hence it has been proposed toautomatically eliminate the foreign matter by inverting the containersin transit from the unscrambler to the filling station and to eithercharge water or air under pressure thereinto and then upright thecontainers. Examination and study of existing commercial machines,however, disclosed that at the desired speeds adequate Washing could notbe attained if adequate draining were realized, or adequate drainingcould not be attained if adequate washing were realized.

The present invention accordingly has for its primary object to providea machine for and a method of conveying and removing foreign matter fromcontainers such as jars and the like at a speed greater than has beenpracticably attainable with available equipment.

A more specific object of the invention is to provide a machineembodying an unscrambler, an inverter, a cleaner and an uprighter forarticles capable of delivering articles to a station Where they may besubsequently acted upon at approximately twice the speed at which sucharticles are normally handled by conventional machines.

A further object of the invention is to provide a machine of thecharacter set forth having novel means for holding the articles whilebeing conveyed in an upright position and to and from an invertedposition.

A still further object is to generally improve and increase theefficiency of machines adapted fer transporting and cleaning containersafter being removed or dumped from the cartons in which they aresupplied by the container manufacturer.

The foregoing and other objects of my invention not specificallyenumerated I accomplish by wherein the articles, instead of being fedthrough the machine in a single file, are fed to the machine and dividedinto two files or lines, which, after being inverted, acted upon andagain up righted, are then combined at the discharge end so that each ofthe operative lines of the machine is called upon to handle onlyone-half of the total number of articles and, as a corollary thearticles remain inverted in passing through the machine for aconsiderably longer interval of time than would otherwise bepracticable. The invention, the various combinations and subcombinationsof elements, and the invention in general will be better understood fromthe detailed description which follows, when considered in connectionwith the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Figure 1 is a top plan view of a machine embodying my invention.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the machine shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a section, on an enlarged scale, taken substantially along theplane of the broken line 33 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic representation of a section taken substantiallyalong the plane of the line 4-4 of Fi 3.

Fig. 5 is a fractional top plan, on an enlarged scale, of a transferwheel and an article holding pocket, more specifically a jar holdingpocket conveyor shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 6 is a section taken along the plane of the line 66 of Fig. 5.

Figs. 7, 8 and 9 are a top plan, a side elevation and a front elevation,respectively, of an article holding pocket forming a part of myinvention.

Referring to the drawings, the machine of the present invention consistsessentially of a table having a top it supported by a plurality of legsH and reinforced by longitudinally and transversely extending braces I2,certain of which serve as supporting members for the driving means, andother elements, as will be hereinafter described, a primary conveyormeans it, secondary conveyor means it and !5, article transfer means inthe nature of star wheels 56, ll, l3 and iii, and guide means 2!}, 2!,22, 23, Z4, Z5, 26, 21 and 28, the functions for which will be presentlyexplained.

The primary conveyor means it may be of any conventional type, hereinshown as composed of a plurality of transversely extending fiat elements29 each pivotally connected at its central portion to a link chain 30(Fig. 3), said conveyor being trained over a pair of sprocket Wheels 3!and 32 at the opposite ends of the table, and supported along its uppercomponent on a pair of angle brackets 33 and on its lower component onangle brackets 34. If desired, the primary conveyor may be supplementedby a laterally disposed additional conveyor means 35, the uppercomponent of which moves in a common plane with the upper component ofthe primary conveyor means and adapted to be driven by a sprocket wheel36 mounted on the same shaft as the sprocket wheel 3|. The primaryconveyor means extends substantially centrally of the table It andprovides, in effect, the means for receiving the articles to be actedupon by the machine and for discharging said articles from the machineafter they havewbeenl carried along by the transfer means IE to I9 andthe secondary conveyors I4 8.111115 The star wheels and H function totransfer the articles from the primary conveyor 13 to the secondaryconveyors Mend it, respectively, and for dividing "the articles whichare usually dumped from cartons onto the conveyor is so that they willmove in two separate files to the respective star wheels 5 S and H, theguide means 2%, 2i and 22, 23 are disposed over the conveyor 1 3, theguides 2G and 22 having components which partially extend around thestar wheels !3 and H, respectively, in concentric relation thereto,while the guides 2i and 23 terminate in proximity to the peripheralorbit of the respective star wheels. The star wheels 16. and l i arecarried by plates 3'! mounted on vertically disposed shafts 38' and areangularly adjustable with respect to said plates by being provided witharcuate slots as through which extend bolts 4%} engageable in the plates37. Each of the star wheels is provided' with peripherally spaced,substantially semi-circular recesses H of asize to accommodate theparticular article to be transferred, the periphery of the star wheelbetween adjacent recesses being cutback, as indicatedat il, to provide aclearance for'the articles into and from said recesses, as will bepresently explained. The star wheels [8 and i 9 are identical. in allrespects witn'the star wheels 18 and i'l, and the guide means 25, 21,and 2s, 26 function to discharge the articles from the recesses in the.star Wheels wand l 9 and guide them onto the discharge end of theprimary conveyor l3.

The secondary conveyors M; and I5 are identical in all respects exceptasto the side thereof on which they have mounted jackets d3for cooperatingwith the recesses A! in. the star wheels. The jackets 43 are shown indetail in Figs. '7, 8 and 9 and each consists of a substantiallysemicylindrical receptacle having an inturned shoulder it at its top andon its exterior adjacent its base is formed with a protuberance havingangularly disposed outer surfaces 33, the. said receptacles beingfixedly carried by the links A! of the conveyor Hi with an angularsurface ii-3. extending parallel to the line of movement of the conveyorso that the receptacle will be'disposed at a slight angle to the line ofmovements The'contveyor is may be of any well known type and, as hereinshown, is of the roller typeandistrained over sprocket wheels 48' and48. The longitudinal spacing between the receptacles G3. on theconveyors M and I5 is equal to th peripheral distance between thecenters of a pair of recesses M on the star wheels so that, when thestar wheels and conveyors is, iii are driven at the same linear speedthe receptacles will cooperate to move into complemental relation withthe recesses and to transfer articles from one to the other. Toaccommodate the conveyors it, $5 with their upstanding receptacles t3,the table top It is cut away to provide openings 50.

When an article such as a jar 5| is engaged by a receptacle 43 andremoved from a recess 4! in a star wheel and moved along the table top,the guide means 23 serve to hold the jars within the receptacles, and asthe conveyor moves about its controlling sprocket wheels to invert thejars, they will be retained in said receptacles by virtue of theshoulders 54 therein being in engagement with the shoulders on the jarsand the further fact that the guide means 28 are plates which extendboth above and below the table top it through openings 58 therein andare of a length below the top somewhat greater than the distancebetween. the, sprocket wheels at and As the jars 5| in inverted positionare conveyed by-ther jackets 33 they are subjected to a cleaningoperation by blasts of air directed upwardly into the interior of thejars through nozzles 52 mountedon an air supply pipe 53. The air blastmay be either continuous or intermittently controlled to operate as ajar comes into position above each nozzle. When the jars are uprightedafter passing over the sprocket wheels t8 they cooperate with the starwheels I?! and it and. are deposited into the recesses 2i therein and,in turn, are disengaged from the star wheels by the guides 25 and 27 andcaused to move onto the discharge end of the conveyors IS. Theadjustments of'the star wheels are so made that the jars or otherarticles are fed thereto in spaced, timed relation so that they will bedischarged alternately from the star wheels 55 and i3 and will be guidedinto a single file by the converging walls of guides 25 and 2?.

The recesses AI in the star wheels and the sockets formed by theinternal walls or" the receptacles 43 are complementally shaped toaccommodate the. articles being conveyed. Where thearticles areotherthan jars 5! of the size and shape. shown, star wheels and receptaclesof complemental shape to the articles will be substituted for thoseillustrated. To accommodate articles of larger or smaller diameter thanthe jars 5!, the guide plate 28 is made laterally justable by beingcarried by adjustment bolts 23a.

Power for driving the various elements of the machine is provided by amotor 51% which, through meshing gears 55 and 5%, drive shaft 53 uponwhich the sprocket wheels 48 is mounted, through a sprocket chain 5?,and through the sprocket chains 59 and (it drive a shaft 55 upon whichthe sprocket Wheel 3?, is mounted. The star wheels are driven from theshaft through pairs of miter gears 62 and 83 which, in turn, drive stubshafts 641 and 65, respectively, carrying sprocket wheels 66 and 6?,respectively, and through the medium of sprocket chains es and 39 whichare trained over sprocket wheels on the shafts 38.

In the operation of th machine, cartons of jars or other articles to befed through the machine are dumped onto the charging end of the conveyorl3 and the additional conveyor means 35 and. are carried to the throatof the charging station between a pair of upstanding walls Ill and H. Asthey move between said walls they are divided into two files at thejuncture of guides 29 and 22 and are fed to the star wheels l6 and IT inproperly timed and spaced relation and from the star wheels aretransferred to the receptacles 43 of the secondary conveyors l4 and I5.As the jars'are being carried by the receptaclesthey are inverted andsubjected to the cleaning operation by the blasts from the nozzles 52;they are then upri'ghted and delivered to the star wheels I8 and I9, andfrom there alternately discharged through the guide means 24, 25 and 26,21 and are caused to form into single file on the discharge end of theconveyor, from where they are transported to the filling station (notshown). The charging end of the conveyor with its upstanding walls 10, Hand guides 21 to 23 act to unscramble the jars or other articles andfeed them in single file to the star Wheels 16 and I! at a speedconsonant with the handling of the articles in question. By virtue ofthe timed spacing of the articles by the star wheels and there-combining of the two files of articles from the secondary conveyorsi4, into one file at the discharge end of the machine, it will beappreciated that the discharge rate of the articles is substantiallytwice the rat at which a single file of articles is fed to therespective secondary conveyors. Accordingly, it will be appreciated thatthe jars, while in inverted condition, may be subjected to a much longercleaning period than would be possible if the rate of passage of thejars through the machine in single file, Was equal to that of thedischarge rate of the so-called duplex machine. Accordingly, jars orother articles can be handled with the present machine at a rate muchfaster than is practicable with th same degree of efficiency on thesingle file operating machines now commercially available.

While I have shown and described a preferred embodiment of my inventionI do not wish to be limited to the specific details of construction andarrangement of parts, since these may be varied within the range ofmechanical and engineering skill without departing from the spirit of myinvention as hereinafter claimed.

What I claim is:

1. In a machine of the class described, a rotatable star wheel havingperipheral spaced recesses each adapted to accommodate an article,

an endless conveyor movable in spaced tangential relation to the starwheel, said conveyor being provided with fixed receptacleslongitudinally spaced therealong and adapted, when a receptacle and arecess in the star wheel com into complemental relation, for withdrawingan article from the recess and conveying said article along the path ofthe conveyor, and a guide plate extending in parallel spaced relation tothe central plane of movement of the conveyor and providing a bearingsurface for holding the articles within the receptacles.

2. A machine according to claim 1 wherein the receptacles each has aninternal shoulder adapted to overlie an article in upright position andadapted to support the article in inverted position.

3. A machine according to claim 1 wherein the guide plate is adjustableto vary the parallel spaced relation thereof to the central plane ofmovement of the conveyor.

CLAIR E. DASCOMB.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS NumberName Date 1,118,425 Johnson Nov. 24, 1914 1,243,566 Souder Oct. 16, 19172,082,567 Bleam June 1, 1937 2,108,522 Bergmann Feb. 15, 1938 2,280,424Risser Apr. 21, 1942 2,315,670 Tascher Apr. 6, 1943 2,319,908 Walter May5, 1943 2,335,239 Gladfelter Nov. 30, 1943 2,363,189 Magnusson Nov. 21,1944 2,459,264 Cerruti Jan. 18, 1949 2,551,030 Allen et a1 May 1, 1951FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 29,016 Denmark Dec. 6, 1921 524,003Germany May 1, 1931

